[0:00] Bibles with me, please, and turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11. We continue our study in the Lord's Prayer.
[0:12] What we've been doing the last several weeks is not what we usually do. We usually take bigger passages and sections this time. We're slowing down, way down, and just looking at one prayer a week of the Lord's Prayer.
[0:29] What's commonly called the Lord's Prayer, but really it's the disciples' prayer. It's the prayer Jesus gave to his disciples to pray. So, we want to read, then we'll ask the Lord to work, and then we'll dig in.
[0:47] So, if you're able, please stand as I read from Luke, chapter 11, verses 1 through 4. Now, Jesus was praying in a certain place.
[0:59] And when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, When you pray, say, ask, Father, hallowed be your name.
[1:23] Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins. For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
[1:38] And lead us not into temptation. So, it reads. Let us pray. Father, guide us this morning. Open our eyes to see this one request that we ask of you.
[1:55] Give us this day our daily bread. Help us to grasp what that is. Help us to take it seriously. Help us to understand what Jesus is teaching us.
[2:08] We pray in his name. Amen. Please be seated. The book of Exodus describes God's deliverance of the nation Israel from bondage to Egypt.
[2:28] Right? So, we get through all the plagues. Right? God finally releases the Israelites. They go through the Red Sea. Right? And then they go through the Red Sea and dry land.
[2:41] And then the sea comes back and drowns Pharaoh and his army. And they sing a song in Exodus 15. They sing about God delivering them.
[2:51] They're praising God. In chapter 16 of Exodus, just days after they've been delivered, they walk into the desert, into the wilderness, three days, and they begin to grumble.
[3:05] We had it better in Egypt. Now we're thirsty and hungry. They go, so God provides water out of a rock, miraculous water.
[3:16] He provides for them. They go a little farther. And they begin to grumble again. Because now they're hungry. Now they're hungry. And they think, you know, we had it better in Egypt.
[3:29] We always had meat in our pots. Out here in the desert, we're just starving to death. Maybe we should have died. So God hears their grumbling.
[3:41] And God says, I'm going to rain bread from heaven. I'm going to rain bread. And you're going to find this bread from heaven every morning.
[3:54] It's going to be a flake-like substance. A thing. Like frost. And they get up in the morning.
[4:08] And they see this flake-like thing. And they say, Manu. Manu. What is it?
[4:20] What is it? So that's what God called it. Manu. Manna. Simply means, what is it? We don't know what it is. But they gather as much as they need every single day.
[4:33] God gives a full portion that they need every day. So why did God do that? They're grumbling. He provides water from a rock.
[4:44] They're grumbling again because they're hungry. He provides bread from heaven. Every morning. As they walk through this wilderness. For 40 years, he provided bread every morning.
[4:59] And meat every evening. Because he would fly in with the wind. Quail. And they had quail every evening. Had meat every evening. So why did he do it?
[5:10] So later, after the 40 years, in Deuteronomy, God says, This is why I did it. I gave you manna. Why? Because God said, I humbled you.
[5:26] And I let you hunger. And I fed you with manna. That I might make you know that man does not live by bread alone.
[5:39] But by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. What's the point of manna? What was that point for 40 years? What were they to learn?
[5:53] To live by faith. To recognize that God provides every single day. To trust what the Lord has supplied. Well, I think that's what Jesus is doing too.
[6:05] In teaching us this request to pray. Give us today. The bread that's necessary. A daily dependence.
[6:16] He's teaching us a daily dependence. He's training us to pray for bread each day. Daily bread. Bread for this day. So here we have in Luke 11.
[6:28] Jesus is giving the disciples a pattern for prayer. We recognize this pattern. Now, this prayer is recorded, as you know, in two places.
[6:40] It's recorded here in Luke 11. In response to one of the disciples saying, teach us to pray. But it was taught much earlier too. It was taught back in Matthew 6.
[6:51] As part of a sermon. That Jesus gave. I believe pretty much everywhere he went. So he regularly taught on prayer. And so this is a couple of years later.
[7:04] After they've heard Jesus preach these truths. The disciples are asking, hey, teach us to pray. I think they're thinking of an advanced prayer.
[7:14] Yeah, we know what you taught the multitudes. You know that, you know, teach us, you know, the big stuff. The bigger stuff. And here Jesus teaches them the same prayer.
[7:27] Now, you'll notice there's some differences. Matthew has a longer version. Luke's version doesn't include thy will be done, right? The wording's a little different. Simply because Jesus taught it on different occasions.
[7:39] And he used some different language. And Luke is going by eyewitnesses that later told him what was said. And they may not have remembered thy will be done as part of that.
[7:53] So what's our pattern? So we looked at the first three. We looked at how it would be thy name. Which literally means cause your name, your reputation to be hallowed.
[8:07] To be set apart. To be sanctified. Cause it to be distinct. In other words, reveal yourself in our lives. To pray for God's things before our things. Thy name, thy kingdom, thy will before we get to our bread.
[8:21] Causes us to purify our faith. To put God first. Thy kingdom come. Means cause your kingdom to come. To intervene.
[8:33] It is a prayer, not a statement. We're asking God to do this. So we are praying. When we pray for the kingdom, we're praying for the gospel. We're praying for transformation that comes to the broken and the humble.
[8:46] We are praying for power. We're asking for the work of the spirit. Paul's described the kingdom as kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but it is the righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
[8:58] So the kingdom is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing righteousness, peace and joy into our lives. As well as other fruit. We're praying for that. And then we're praying for God's will.
[9:10] Thy will be done. That is a prayer we're asking God to do. Cause your will to be done. Make your will happen in our lives. And we found there's three ways we can apply that prayer.
[9:23] It can be a prayer of surrender like Jesus. Not my will, but thine be done. It can be a prayer for direction like Paul's prayer in Colossians. Fill us with the knowledge of your will so we know what to do.
[9:37] To walk in a manner worthy. And it can be a prayer for wisdom in doing what God's already revealed as his will. So we looked a couple of weeks ago at all the statements in the New Testament that said, this is God's will.
[9:50] This is God's will. This is God's will. So there are clear statements that God makes about what his will is. So we can pray. Okay, grant me the wisdom and insight to know how to, right, be a living sacrifice.
[10:05] Right? To walk by the spirit, et cetera, et cetera. So lots of ways to pray those things. So we looked at God's things. Notice the first three requests are about God.
[10:17] Now Jesus' pattern comes to us. Now we're going to pray for our bread. And then we'll pray for our forgiveness. And then we'll pray for our temptations, our testing.
[10:32] Right? So what is this first one for us? Our prayer for daily bread. What does that mean? Now why do we pray?
[10:47] So what is Jesus teaching us in this prayer? Give us our daily bread. Well, I think there's two general observations, two general applications. First application I want to present to you is why pray this?
[11:00] Why do it? Especially when we live in America and I've already got a fridge full of food. All right. So how does that even relate? Right? Do I even pray that?
[11:12] And then secondly, when we pray it. Okay. So why? So this prayer, first of all, first application, this prayer compels us to recognize our absolute dependence on our Father.
[11:26] Father. Whether you need physical bread today or not. To pray this each day compels us to recognize that our absolute dependence on the Father.
[11:44] Let me ask it another way. Why pray this when we already have bread? In fact, we have enough bread for a week. We buy bread, you know, go to Sam's and you buy a truckload.
[11:59] And you put some in the freezer, you know, that you take out later. So, you know, we cut down our shopping trips kind of thing. We don't live in the first century where they didn't have refrigerators and freezers.
[12:13] Even ice. Not in Palestine. Unless you want to climb Mount Hermon and get some ice and by the time you get down, it melts. So you have to make bread every day.
[12:27] You have to go to market almost every day. So you're praying. You're living day to day. See, our problem, when we have enough already, our problem is that we tend to think that we carry our own load.
[12:46] We're not intentional about that. We just kind of fall into that. We earn our own money. We buy our own food.
[12:57] We provide our own clothes. We pay our own rent. We pay our own credit. Why do I need to ask for it? I can do it. Well, that's not the full truth.
[13:14] We need this. We need to pray this because we must remember that that we're not the real source. God is the real source. everything that we have the fact that I have a job that's a gift from God that's not my duty now I might qualify for a certain kind of job or whatever that lends to my gifts but where did I get those gifts where did I get that ability where did I get the health where did I get the strength see if I think that's all me then I'm deluded so we have to fight against that that's just natural that's our natural tendency to think yeah I can just do that I don't need to ask I can just do this especially when we have a fridge full of food so the purpose of this prayer I think in one aspect is to influence us and to renew our mind to conform our heart to pray for what's necessary and we may need to rethink what's necessary but to pray with gratitude and contentment remember the prayer that comes from Proverbs
[14:30] Proverbs chapter 30 kind of talks about this in a nice way he says two things I have asked of thee do not refuse me before I die keep deception and lies far from me give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with the food that is my portion lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be in want and steal and profane the name of my God it's a prayer for contentment it's not a prayer for riches it's not a prayer for you know more it's a prayer for enough what's necessary give me my portion and do it Lord because I know what's in my heart I know that if you give me a whole bunch then I'll forget you and if you don't give me enough I'll go out and steal so give me just what I need what's necessary all of our daily bread is God given that's just something to remember and Jesus teaching us this prayer compels us to not only recognize that but gratefully acknowledge God
[15:46] Paul says this in 1 Timothy 4 he says the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons oh what's that sounds kind of what's deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons well he says here's how they do it by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron men who so in other words the deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons come through men men who forbid marriage which and advocate abstaining from foods which foods which God has created to be greatly gratefully shared shared in by those who believe and know the truth for everything created by God is good and nothing still speaking about food nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer so if you have bread if you have food are you grateful you may not need to pray this day give me bread because I already have bread but I can say thank you Lord that I have this and recognize and renew that focus that Lord all this is because of you you've been good to us and the other thing
[17:17] I want you to notice this prayer is not just about me there's a couple of key words in this prayer notice that makes it bigger than me right give me oh us yes our not mine our so even though I might have enough my brother may not my family may not right I'm praying bigger it's not just about me this is intercession so this prayer teaches us first of all why to pray it compels us just at the out the out set it compels us to recognize the Lord as the source of all there's a second application when do we pray this prayer well that it tells us give us each day so this is a second application this prayer trains us to ask only for what is necessary this day hmm what about the future well that's thy will be done we pray for about future things and our future plans and our future savings all that kind of stuff under thy will be done you know give us wisdom for making good planning but here this prayer trains us to ask only for what is necessary today this day we are not asking for a month supply we're not asking for the rest of the week we're not asking for future retirement
[19:00] I might want to pray for wisdom about those kind of things because the scripture implies that we do need to make plans and we need to be able to take care of things but this prayer isn't about that this prayer is about today for daily for each day and the emphasis is on day to day essentials what do we really need today what is vital so look with me again at verse 3 give us each day our daily bread now notice the translators have put give us each day that's correct our daily bread why does it say daily again well we assume because that's the word in the Greek and it's actually not yeah but here's the thing with the Lord's Prayer even our new our new translation still use the word in verse 2 hallowed why because you don't touch the Lord's Prayer it's sacred and sacred means whatever the
[20:12] King James did so there's a hesitancy and I understand that there's a hesitancy to change any of the words as a teacher as a pastor I'm like no if it doesn't help people understand then change the words translate it accurately okay so give us each day that's right our necessary bread the bread that's necessary the bread that's essential the bread that's the basic fundamental vital thing that we need today what do I need today because he's already said it's daily now he's saying the bread that's also essential so what is that so what kind of bread do we ask for right we tend to think okay that's that's food well what's interesting is to to trace the word bread and the idea of bread through the New Testament like we did with the will of God like we did with kingdom right so to get a better feel for what is it meant so
[21:24] I found five ways that bread the idea of bread is used in the New Testament so the first most common natural reference is to basic needs to food and clothing look over with me if you're in Luke 11 look over just over to chapter 2 chapter 2 chapter 12 in Luke Luke 12 beginning verse 22 Jesus is talking about don't be anxious remember this Luke 12 22 he said to his disciples therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life what you will eat nor about your body what you will put on for life is more than food and the body more than clothing so he's talking about food and clothing basic needs consider the ravens they neither sow nor reap they have neither storehouse nor barn yet God feeds them just like the man in the wilderness how much more value are you than the birds if God takes care of the birds the logic is will he not take care of you of course and which of you being anxious can add a single hour to the span of his life does it help if then you are not able to do a small thing as that why are you anxious about the rest consider the lilies how they grow they neither toil nor spin yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these this is the time of year where we go out and look at the colors right right
[23:10] I mean can we spin colors like God can I mean that's why we go out it's like oh look if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven how much more will he clothe you oh you of little hey do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink nor be worried for all the nations of the world seek after these things that's what everyone does and your father knows that you need them instead seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you walk by faith trust God's supply so the most common way that this word bread is used is what we would think about food and clothing basic needs but here's another twist in 2nd Thessalonians 3 Paul uses it in reference to earning a living to a job to work watch what he says 2nd
[24:16] Thessalonians 3 7 Paul says for you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us because we were not idle when we were with you nor did we eat watch this nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it but with toil and labor what did we do we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you it was not because we do not have the right but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate for even when we were with you we would give you this command watch this if anyone is not willing to work let him not eat wow that's in the New Testament you don't just give away food well Paul didn't unless they weren't able to work unless they were paralyzed
[25:19] Paul says this is a command that he gave them if anyone's not willing to work let him not eat wow for we hear that some among you walk in idleness not busy at work but busy bodies now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus to do their work quietly and to earn their own living why is Paul so strong on this well this goes all the way back to creation man was created to work first things given a job he created there's your garden go do it get to it back your garden is everything you can take care of the animals you can take you have a big job God's never taken back that creation mandate and Paul's still saying work he's not saying by the way that we don't care for the poor who can't work he's not saying that but he's talking about people that are just idle and don't want to work and just want to be taken care of by others sound familiar so work so bread can refer to earning a living so sometimes we pray for people to have work we pray for people to get a job we pray for people to find the opportunity to work of course that makes sense doesn't it to be able to put bread on their own table so here's a third way it's used in
[26:55] Matthew 15 this is really interesting here's the story Matthew 15 22 behold a Canaanite woman now this is Jesus is on retreat he's trying to get away from the crash trying to get away from people taking his disciples up the mountain to get rest behold a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying have mercy on me oh Lord son of David my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon but he did not answer her a word that doesn't sound like Jesus and his disciples came and begged him saying send her away for she's crying out after us the disciples are big help I'm real compassionate people here she's annoying us and then he answered I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel well that sounds like I'm just for the Jews and I don't care about the Gentiles is that Jesus is this the
[27:56] Jesus we're talking about but she kept coming she came and knelt before him saying Lord help me and he answered it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs now he's downright rude right I mean first he's ignoring her then he's got this off can remark that sounds racial and now he's just like don't give it to the dogs he knew what kind of woman he was dealing with though because she was right there watch what she says she said yes lord I agree yes yet even the doggies the greek word is little doggies little not those big you know the little ones that get in your house the little ones eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table and lord she's saying
[29:04] I'll take a crumb I'll take a crumb from your table I'll take a crumb that's enough I don't need much I'm not worthy to sit at your table I'll take a crumb what does he say then oh woman great is your fame be it done for you as you desire and her daughter was healed instantly so he wasn't ignoring her he wasn't rude to her he was letting her display the kind of faith that a desperate person has and knows who Jesus is right so how's it used so it's also the third way it's also used is for healing so we pray for daily bread we might not be praying for food or clothing we might not even be praying for a job we might be praying for healing we might be praying for physical or spiritual healing when we do prayer and share on our third
[30:12] Sundays this is where so I you know when I record I have kingdom I have will and then I have bread right and so when someone brings up a healing a physical issue I put it under bread that's the category or jobs I put over there well okay there's a fourth way that bread is used and you I know you've heard of this one if you've been around church any time you've heard of this one in our lobby and inside there's these little things called the daily bread and it's still devotional the daily bread Jesus refers to a greater daily bread the word drawn on for life so Matthew 4
[31:12] Jesus is being tempted right and he's been fasting for 40 days and he's gotten hungry and so the tempter comes to Jesus and says to him if you are the son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread so you can eat you have the ability you're the son of God make the stones into bread just say it and Jesus answered it is written now he quotes from Deuteronomy man shall not live by bread physical bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God that's also bread in fact that's a bigger kind of bread that's a bigger life physical bread yeah sustains your physical life spiritual bread from this word can give food for your soul food for your heart food for your mind food for our anxiety food for our discouragements food for our strength our spiritual strength so you may have physical bread you may have a job you may have your body's okay and you don't know about any healing needs maybe the food that's necessary this day give us this day what I really need and maybe what I really need most is this okay what I need is
[32:46] I need God to open my eyes because sometimes I can pick this up and it'll be dry you ever had that experience of course you have it's normal it's just I'm not getting anything out of it today Lord I know there's something there but I'm not something's wrong you know I'm messed up open my eyes help me see help me pierce my heart with it so we prayed this prayer we could be praying for the bread for a job for healing we could even be praying for spiritual food from the word of God maybe you have plenty of physical bread maybe you have health maybe you have a job but there's still a hole there's a hollowness in you there's a void you feel empty you hunger for something more it's not the physical that you know you need you know you need something bigger something deeper something that actually lasts!
[34:04] you thirst for peace you thirst for joy you work you put food on the table but at the end of the day it seems empty isn't there more and maybe that's where this prayer comes in give us this day what I really need what I really need so Jesus actually says there's another bread besides the physical basic needs besides the healing besides this living bread he says I am the bread I am the bread of life and he contrasts himself with manna the manna that came from the sky and fed your fathers you know and that didn't do it
[35:12] I mean it kept him alive physically but it didn't do it and now he says I'm the bread from heaven I'm the bread from heaven I'm the real bread from heaven that gives true life life that's rich life that's full life that has meaning even amidst hardship he gives fullness listen to the way Jesus says it in John 6 he said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me whoever keeps coming to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me whoever keeps believing in me whoever trusts in me shall never thirst I used to think that that promise was if I came to
[36:13] Jesus I would never thirst again but I made the coming just the one time and then the next day I'm hungry again see what Jesus that's not what Jesus says he's using the present tense whoever keeps coming to me whoever keeps on believing in me in other words it's continual it's continual supply because you keep coming it's like the woman it's like the woman right even though he ignored her initially even though he discouraged her by some words she kept coming and that's the one who had great faith so at the end here of Luke 11 when Jesus is he's giving us the Lord's prayer then he tells us a parable about about the friend that comes at midnight you know and that keeps on knocking you know until the friend gets up
[37:16] I'm going to keep knocking and get up he says that's what prayer is like in other words he implies God doesn't give all the time right away that's just prayer is work no no I don't have to call it work prayer is faith I keep coming here's the thing Paul talks about in 2nd Corinthians when he's talking about all the different things he's suffered he mentions that often he went without food what about the day of the bread well what about people that don't have bread every day but they're praying what about that what about Paul I'm sure Paul was praying don't you think but yet he often went without bread well how does
[38:16] God answer prayer how does God he may not give you bread every day he may want you to go hungry to draw something else out of you there may be days you open this up and you just oh please Lord open this up to me you feed me today and a day after day after day you pray that and you still it still feels dry does that mean there's something wrong with you well yeah but that's not the reason because God often regularly delays his answers does he not does he not what does the old testament teach us oh my they waited long periods of time for things sometimes miraculously God gives right away and those are what we call miracles because they're rare
[39:22] I want to encourage you because I think we can get discouraged and say I'm praying I asked and I still didn't what's wrong with me I need to be like that woman oh Lord let me be like her let me believe something about you Jesus despite what your disciples say despite what the circumstances say that I believe you're going to give and going to provide if I keep on coming because at the end Jesus says what whoever asks receives!
[40:06] the door is open whoever seeks finds and again Jesus is saying whoever keeps on asking whoever keeps on knocking whoever keeps on seeking those are the ones that receive are you with me does that make sense I want this prayer that I think we take for granted to become more relevant for you more of a prayer that I need today and that's why I wanted to tell you the translation give us this day what is necessary what I need today what do I need and again not just me us what do we what does my family what does my church need what does my community you what you know some days
[41:09] I'm going to be oh it's about me today because I can't you know I'm the most needy but the pattern generally is like I want to get bigger than that okay so prayer for daily bread is about two applications one that compels us to recognize our absolute dependence on God and to be grateful for what we have already got but then secondly trains us this prayer trains us to ask for what I need for this day my nose is running I just gotta catch it let's pray father thank you that you sent your son thank you that as a good shepherd he teaches us how to follow how to walk where to find the green pastures where to find the quiet waters thank you that he's the one who restores our soul and he teaches us this prayer thank you for what you teach us the way you lead us help us father help us to pursue you like that woman help us to keep coming for what we really need we ask in
[42:44] Christ's name amen